Biodiversity and ecosystem services are complex and the interactions between them and development processes are more complex still.
UNEP - WCMC

WCMC is a UK charity, based in Cambridge, which supports the United Nations Environment Programme. We work in collaboration with UNEP, under the banner of UNEP-WCMC. Our mission is to evaluate and highlight the many values of biodiversity and put authoritative biodiversity knowledge at the centre of decision-making.
UNEP-WCMC confronts the challenges faced by our world's biodiversity with knowledge, innovation and leadership. In partnership with UN Environment and based in Cambridge, the UK's conservation capital, we connect science, policy and society. Our access and influence empowers decision makers to create positive and sustainable impact for people and nature.
Our team is made up of experts in biodiversity and ecosystem services, social scientists, communications experts, ecological modellers, economists, policy analysts, lawyers, GIS specialists, data managers and software developers.
2019 is UNEP-WCMC's 40th anniversary. We continue to build on the achievements and impacts of the last four decades, bringing innovation and insights to the international policy community at this critical time for our planet.

Nature provides innumerable services that underpin food security, human well-being and indeed, the global economy.

Decision makers must choose where to focus their conservation efforts, what levels of resource utilization to permit and how to manage and control utilization in practice.

We know that biodiversity is changing, and we can identify trends and directions in this change. In some cases we can attribute these to factors such as climate change, agricultural expansion, urbanization or pollution, but the underlying causes of change are rarely clear and simple.

Biodiversity has many dimensions including variety, quantity, composition and distribution. Whichever of these we choose to measure, biodiversity is changing in unprecedented ways. To respond to this, we need to know what is changing, where, and at what rate.

UNEP-WCMC were pleased to welcome a delegation from the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IEDA-CAAS) in May 2019.

A new environmental classification system is the first to fully categorise both the renewable and non-renewable resources that provide benefits to people and the economy. This depth of information will provide a consistent ‘language’ for decision makers at all levels in the public and private sectors to consistently manage nature, as well as the services it provides.

UN Environment and partners gathered in Cambridge this week to kick-start a new project aiming to make trade a positive force for both nature conversation and marginalised people.

2019 is the 40th anniversary of the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC).
A multi-million pound project led by UNEP-WCMC is announced today, aiming to make trade a positive force for both marginalised people and nature conservation.
In a paper released today, scientists at UNEP-WCMC and Microsoft Research describe the world’s first General Ecosystem Model that attempts to simulate all life on earth – both on land and in the ocean.
Access to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Trade Database – which contains some 14 million records on the international trade in CITES-listed species – is now easier and more reliable, thanks to cutting-edge, open source technologies.
A new study demonstrates that climate change disrupts natural relationships between species.
UNEP-WCMC will be presenting their work on modelling to assess the impacts of land use change at the upcoming 2nd Global Land Project Open Science Meeting in Berlin, Germany from 19 to 21 March. The event brings together the international research community working on land change issues.

Proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly as an occasion to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild fauna and flora, the date was chosen to coincide with the day that the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was first adopted.
A commitment has been made by representatives of over 40 nations and 11 intergovernmental organizations to end the illegal trade in wildlife following a two day conference in London.
Dr Chris Sandbrook, Lecturer in Conservation Leadership at UNEP-WCMC, joined the well-known television and radio presenter Monty Don on the BBC Radio 4 series Shared Planet to share his expert knowledge on community conservation.
The winners of a short film-making competition supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which aims to engage young people with big environmental issues, have been announced. The shortlisted films – all just one minute in length – cover topics such as climate change; cutting back food waste; and recycling.

Species+ is a new online resource providing comprehensive information on globally protected species. It includes all species covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), as well as those included in the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations.
Protected areas and other sites of biodiversity importance often provide significant benefits to people in the form of ecosystem services such as food, clean water and climate regulation. But the value of these services is rarely recognised when land-use decisions are made, for example, to log a forest or drain a wetland. Demonstrating nature’s value in economic terms often carries weight with...
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